Commission welcomes adoption of climate and
energy package

The European Commission welcomes the formal
adoption today of the climate and energy package and legislation to reduce
CO2 emissions from new cars and transport
fuels. The measures, agreed in December, put Europe firmly on the road towards
becoming a low-carbon economy and will increase energy security. The package
sets legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1990
levels and to increase the share of renewable energy to 20%, both by 2020. It
will also help achieve the EU's objective of improving energy efficiency by 20%
within the same timeframe. The package makes Europe the first region in the
world to implement such far-reaching, legally binding climate and energy
targets. It represents an important contribution to reaching an ambitious
international climate agreement at the United Nations climate conference in
December.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso said: "Today we have reached
agreement on one of the top priorities of this Commission. The energy and
climate change package represents the litmus test of Europe's ability to act for
the benefit of its citizens. Coupled with yesterday's agreement on strengthening
the EU internal energy market, we have taken an important step forward to
increase energy efficiency and security, and strengthen Europe's position for a
new international climate agreement later this year".

The package delivers on EU leaders' commitments to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 20% of 1990 levels and to raise the share of energy
consumption provided by renewable resources to 20%, both by 2020. It also
contributes to the target of improving energy efficiency by 20%.

The package lays the basis for increasing the emissions reduction from 20% to
30% in the context of a satisfactory international climate agreement in which
other developed and developing countries contribute their fair share to limiting
global emissions. The international agreement is due to be concluded in December
at the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen.

The climate and energy package consists of four legislative texts:

A Directive revising the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), which covers
some 40% of EU greenhouse gas emissions;

An "effort-sharing" Decision setting binding national targets for emissions
from sectors not covered by the EU ETS (see Annex);

A Directive setting binding national targets for increasing the share of
renewable energy sources in the energy mix (see Annex);

A Directive creating a legal framework for the safe and environmentally
sound use of carbon capture and storage technologies.

The package is
complemented by two further legislative acts that were agreed at the same time:

A Regulation requiring a reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars
to an average of 120g per km, to be phased in between 2012 and 2015, and further
to 95g per km in 2020. This measure alone will contribute more than one-third of
the emission reductions required in the non-ETS sectors;

A revision of the Fuel Quality Directive requiring fuel suppliers to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel production chain by 6% by 2020.

Next steps

The six legislative acts will enter into force 20 days after publication in
the Official Journal, expected in May.

Further information

For further details of the package and the complementary legislation, see IP/08/1998
and Memos on: